NEPA--Environmental Assessment
NEPA--Environmental Assessment
NEPA--Environmental Assessment
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Silverton Grazing Risk <strong>Assessment</strong><br />
Needles Mountains (FS, vacant allotment): There are no records of any permitted livestock<br />
being grazed on this allotment. Very little suitable domestic sheep range exists in the<br />
allotment due to generally steep and rugged mountainous terrain. In addition, there are<br />
very limited access routes into the allotment. There is a large area of overlap with mapped<br />
summer range, summer concentration, and winter range areas with the S71 West Needles<br />
bighorn sheep herd. If this allotment were to be restocked with domestic sheep, potential<br />
for contact with bighorn sheep appears to be high. Moving domestic sheep from another<br />
allotment in the Landscape to the Needles Mountains Allotment would be moving sheep to<br />
an area of equal or greater risk for contact with bighorn sheep. For this reason, we<br />
recommend closing the Needles Allotment.<br />
Fall Creek, Johnson Creek, Leviathan, Rock Creek, Cave Basin, and Flint Creek (FS,<br />
vacant allotments): These six allotments are all outside the Silverton Landscape. Five of<br />
the six allotments have not been grazed by domestic sheep since 1974. The Cave Basin<br />
Allotment was last grazed by sheep in 1988. They were vacated largely due to their<br />
location in remote areas of the Weminuche Wilderness with difficult access, and their<br />
relatively small size for a sustainable season of grazing. All of these allotments would have<br />
a high potential for contact with bighorn sheep, either by overlap with or close proximity<br />
to mapped bighorn summer range of the S28 Vallecito Creek bighorn sheep herd, or by<br />
overlap or close proximity with their associated stock driveways necessary for<br />
ingress/egress of domestic sheep bands. There have been few requests from the domestic<br />
sheep industry to use these remote areas. There is a slight possibility that if several of<br />
these allotments were combined, a logical grazing unit could be developed and managed<br />
effectively. However, the high potential for contact with the S28 bighorn herd would likely<br />
remain and would be difficult to mitigate. Moving domestic sheep from the Silverton<br />
Landscape to any one or combination of these six allotments would be moving sheep to an<br />
area of equal or greater risk for contact with bighorn sheep. For these reasons we<br />
recommend these seven allotments not be considered for restocking with domestic sheep<br />
from active allotments in the Silverton Landscape.<br />
Pine River Allotment (FS, vacant allotment): This is a large vacant allotment that includes<br />
much of the headwaters of the Pine River in the central Weminuche Wilderness. This<br />
allotment has been vacant since 1980. This allotment has been vacant largely due to its<br />
remote location in the central Weminuche Wilderness and the requirement to trail<br />
animals a long distance via the Pine-Piedra Stock Driveway. There is substantial summer<br />
recreation in the Granite Lake, Snowslide Canyon, Rincon La Vaca, and Rincon La Osa<br />
portions of this allotment, and the Continental Divide Trail parallels the boundary of this<br />
allotment for a number of miles.<br />
There is substantial overlap between the Pine River Allotment and mapped summer range<br />
of the S16 Cimmarona/Hossick bighorn sheep herd, including all of Snowslide Canyon.<br />
Mapped bighorn summer range for S16 extends from the headwaters of the Piedra River<br />
drainage west to the Pine River at the mouth of Rincon La Osa, making domestic sheep<br />
access to or from the Pine River very difficult without passing through mapped bighorn<br />
sheep summer range. In addition, the Rincon La Osa portion of the Pine River Allotment<br />
is within 1 to 2 air miles of mapped summer range of the S28 Vallecito Creek bighorn<br />
sheep herd.<br />
Historic livestock ingress/egress to the Pine River Allotment was from the south along the<br />
Pine-Piedra Stock Driveway, or along the Pine River Trail from Vallecito Reservoir. Both of<br />
these routes pass through the heart of the S28 Vallecito Creek bighorn sheep herd’s<br />
summer range and summer concentration area. The Pine River Trail is an extremely<br />
D-8